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RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1107

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000061 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR APRIL 25, 2007 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for April 25, 
¶2007.  Please note that Turkish press reports often contain 
errors or exaggerations; AmConsulate Adana does not vouch for 
the accuracy of the reports summarized here. 
 
POLITICAL: 
 
ZAMAN:  Suleyman Onatca, Chairperson of the Federation of 
the Adana Industrialists & Businessmen Association and Eastern 
Mediterranean Industrialists & Businessmen Association, said in 
a press announcement he made that Abdullah Gul was a 
presidential candidate who would successfully embrace all the 
sections of the society with his tolerant attitude. 
 
GUNDEM / SABAH: According to Sabah daily, DTP Kars provincial 
party organization launched a "strange" campaign and established 
the following campaign slogan: "Yasar Buyukanit and his team 
should resign, and the lives of the youth be saved."  DTP 
Provincial Chairman Alinak branded the latest developments in 
the region as "scary," and, said that the racism and ethnic 
clashes in the region were being escalated by the authorities. 
Alinak made a call to everybody to beat tin containers and 
produce loud noise until Buyukanit resigns from office. (Note: 
Gundem daily reappeared on shelves as the second ban which 
removed the paper from the shelves for 15 days expired.) 
 
GUNDEM: Members of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, Human 
Rights Association and Mazlum-Der (Solidarity Association for 
Oppressed People) paid a visit to Ahmet Guvener, spiritual 
leader of the Protestants in Diyarbakir, and extended 
condolences because of the slaying of three Christians in a 
Bible publishing house last week in Malatya. 
 
SECURITY: 
 
ZAMAN ONLINE / GUNDEM:  A 25-year-old second lieutenant was 
killed in a conflict between security forces and the terrorists 
in Sirnak's Kupeli Mountain.  Meanwhile, the military operation 
that was started in the Amanos Mountains the previous day, has 
been extended to Hatay's Dortyol, Erzin, Reyhanli, and Hassa 
districts. 
 
ECONOMY: 
 
GUNDEM / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):   The exports figures in the 
south-eastern region increased by 16.62 per cent in the first 
quarter of 2007, according to the data provided by South-eastern 
Exporters' Union. 
 
HURRIYET ONLINE:        The ground-breaking ceremony of the 
Samsun-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline (Trans Anatolian Pipeline) was 
held in Adana's Ceyhan district, however not many oil agreements 
with oil companies have been made so far, a point that 
reportedly raised questions in people's minds.  In a press 
briefing after the ceremony, Hilmi Guler, Minister of Energy, 
when asked about whether a prerequisite imposed during the 
tender process on Calik company, the Turkish partner of the 
undertaking, which stipulated that an oil agreement would be 
made within the ensuing six months after Calik was awarded the 
bid, was met or not, the Minister said, 'The company was 
allotted a period of time then, and evaluation has been 
continuing within that time frame. There is not a problem about 
that.'  Hilmi Guler further said that Samsun-Ceyhan Pipeline 
will not be a rival to the BTC (Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline). 
The CEO of ENI, the Italian partner of the project, said that 
the estimated cost of the construction of the pipeline was 
between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. 
 
EKSPRES:        Hilmi Guler, Minister of Energy, said that, on that 
day, the 145th vessel was being loaded with petroleum at the BTC 
and $513 million had been earned by Turkey to date within ten 
months.  Guler said 234 million dollars of that total revenue 
was transferred to the Treasury.  Guler claimed that Turkey has 
become one of the most effective countries in the world in the 
energy field with its achievements it has made over the last 
year.  Guler also said that the experience gained in the BTC 
project would guide them in the construction process of the 
other pipelines. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES / ZAMAN:        Prof. Vahit Kirisci, 
Adana deputy (from AKP) and President of the Parliamentary 
Commission for Agriculture and Village Works, and, Kutahya 
deputy and (from AKP) and President of the Parliamentary 
Commission for Industry, Commerce and Energy, paid a visit to 
 
ADANA 00000061  002 OF 002 
 
 
Adana Chamber of Industry (ACI).  During the visit, Umit 
Ozgumus, Chairperson of ACI complained about the regulations 
binding the industrialists to allot an employment quota for 
members of certain professions. Ozgumus found it reasonable in 
the regulations to create employment opportunities for disabled 
people, but regarded the stipulation obliging the industrialists 
to employ some people from various professions as a burden in 
the current global competition. 
 
CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 
 
EKSPRES:        As a result of a joint operation with the U.K. 
against human trafficking activities in Mersin, which lasted 
nearly 6 months, Mersin Security Directorate caught nine 
snakeheads operating in Mersin and apprehended them. 
 
CULTURE / SOCIETY / ENVIRONMENT 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA) / GUNDEM / SABAH / EVRENSEL:        Following 
the exhumation of the coffin of an 8-year-old boy, who died on 
April 22 in a village of Van's Caldiran district, in order to 
conduct autopsy after authorities suspected about the cause of 
child's death, panic reportedly struck local people who feared 
that the boy might have died because of an infectious disease. 
Seventy-two people in the district, who showed similar symptoms 
of fever, nausea, etc., have been taken under hospital care. 
None of the patients' health conditions are reported as severe, 
and blood samples taken so far did not reveal any viral disease 
such as bird flu.  The doctors, who say that the final results 
would be taken today, are of the opinion following the initial 
examinations that the symptoms of the patients are that of 
common flu, not that of a lethal viral disease.  Sabah daily 
reports the cause of the death of the child as meningitis and 
the other patients, most of whom were children, were suffering 
from poisoning.  Gundem daily reports that Governor's Office 
decided to send a team of doctors to the village and authorities 
will conduct tests on the water used in the village and its 
environs. 
 
GUNDEM / HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):   Shepherds in a village of 
Sanliurfa found the corpse of a 39-year-old woman buried in a 
pit in an open field area nearby the village.  Police started an 
investigation and the body of the victim has been sent to the 
forensic authority in Adana.  The woman was reported as 
disappeared one month ago. 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Toroslar district municipality in Mersin 
painted a 4500-square-meter Turkish flag on the side of the 
Taurus Mountains which faced the city.  The mayor of the 
district (from MHP) and deputy governor attended the opening 
ceremony at the venue of the flag which is reportedly the 
biggest Turkish flag in the country. 
 
SABAH (GUNEY):  Journalists criticized Deputy Governor Hatay 
for allowing only the journalist(s) from Hurriyet daily to watch 
the performance of the "Chorus of Religions" in Hatay. 
Journalists from Ihlas News Agency, Sabah and NTV were banned 
from watching the event. 
 
BOLGE / EKSPRES:        Thirty Arab journalists and media members from 
Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, who were invited to Turkey by the 
Ministry of Culture and Tourism to raise their awareness about 
Turkey, came to Adana province and toured the city.  The 
journalists were invited for a nine-day program in Turkey which 
will cover Adana, Konya, Bolu and Afyonkarahisar provinces.  A 
Turkish Consulate official in Aleppo said that program's aim was 
to promote the tourism potential of Turkey and attract more 
visitors from the neighbouring countries. 
 
ZAMAN / SABAH (GUNEY) / BOLGE / EKSPRES / HURRIYET:     An 
exchange of fire resulted when three extorters attempted to 
squeeze money from a business owner in Adana.  The owner of the 
business killed one of the extorters and wounded the other two 
as he retaliated after he was wounded by initial shooting of one 
of the extorters. 
GREEN